Matthew 12:1-21

New King James Version

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath^(A)

12 At that time ^(B)Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to ^(C)pluck heads of grain and to eat. ² And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”

³ But He said to them, “Have you not read ^(D)what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: ⁴ how he entered the house of God and ate ^(E)the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, ^(F)but only for the priests? ⁵ Or have you not read in the ^(G)law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple ^[a]profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? ⁶ Yet I say to you that in this place there is ^(H)One greater than the temple. ⁷ But if you had known what this means, ^(I)‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. ⁸ For the Son of Man is Lord ^[b]even of the Sabbath.”

Healing on the Sabbath^(J)

^9 (K)Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. ¹⁰ And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, ^(L)“Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—that they might accuse Him.

¹¹ Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? ¹² Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” ¹³ Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. ¹⁴ Then ^(M)the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.

Behold, My Servant

¹⁵ But when Jesus knew it, ^(N)He withdrew from there. ^(O)And great ^[c]multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all. ¹⁶ Yet He ^(P)warned them not to make Him known, ¹⁷ that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: